State closes carnival ride

State public safety officials have shut down an amusement ride at a traveling carnival here until the owner replaces a faulty tire on the device.

State amusement inspectors found the bald tire on the “Pharaoh’s Fury” ride when they looked at the machine last Friday as workers were setting up for Saturday’s opening on a parking lot next to Coolidge Park on John Fitch Highway.

As of yesterday, the ride was apparently still out of use, though no sign saying it was closed was visible at the carnival, which is operated by Mark Fanelli’s Traveling Theme Park of Rindge, N.H.

Mark F. Mooney, chief of inspections for the state Department of Public Safety, said the ride is the first that state inspectors have closed in the still-young amusement season. This week, five carnivals had been set up across the state, including one in Worcester. Others are scheduled to open in the next few weeks.

Inspectors also found another safety violation at the Fanelli carnival last week — doors on a gondola ride that would not close properly — but that problem appeared to have been quickly fixed, Mr. Mooney said.

As for the Pharaoh’s Fury, an Egyptian-themed swinging ship that holds 40 to 60 passengers, carnival workers initially told a private inspector who had flagged the substandard tire that they had a replacement spare and would put it on immediately.

Mr. Mooney yesterday said, however, that he had not been notified that the tire had been replaced and that the ride could not run until the state had been officially informed that the repair had been made.

“What does it take to replace a tire?” he said. “We haven’t gotten a call that he has changed it.”

Mr. Fanelli did not return several messages left at his business yesterday. No one was at the carnival during the day. The show usually opens in the evening.

Mr. Mooney said that to guard against overzealous inspections in such cases, he generally calls the manufacturer before bringing the matter to the attention of Public Safety Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis, who has sole authority to close a ride.

The manufacturer, Chance Ride Manufacturing of Wichita, did not object to closing the ride until a new tire was installed, Mr. Mooney said.

“I’d rather default to being safer than sorry,” he said.

The public safety agency has about 20 inspectors who examine portable carnival rides at each setup during the carnival season.

That is about triple the number that were trained to inspect rides in 2004, when Andrew R. Fohlin, 38, was killed on a “Sizzler” ride at a Shrewsbury church festival that broke apart after several faulty bolts gave way.

The carnival company’s ride supervisor pleaded guilty to manslaughter last March in connection with the death.

The state has stepped up inspections and regulation of the amusement industry in the wake of Mr. Fohlin’s death.

A 7-year-old boy died yesterday of injuries he suffered Sunday night on a Sizzler ride at an Arkansas carnival. The boy had slipped out of a compartment that did not have its safety bar locked and was then hit in the head by the ride, the boy’s uncle told the Hope Star newspaper.

The relative said the accident apparently resulted from the inability of the Spanish-speaking boy and his mother to understand the English-speaking ride attendant.

Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.